The dielectric breakdown voltage current associated with metal interconnect structures is determined by the intrinsic properties of the dielectric material interspersed between the metal lines as well as extrinsic properties such as the distance between the metal lines.
As device feature sizes continue to shrink and the distance between the metals lines is reduced, it is important to control the spacing between the lines. This means close attention to patterning of the structures, the deposition of the metal, planarization of the structure and any subsequent processing. One must avoid any  encroachment between adjacent lines during processing in order to preserve good electrical characteristics of the structure.
Current technology uses an inlaid metal structure where the metal lines are formed by depositing a dielectric, pattern transfer and etching of lines in the dielectric, and subsequently depositing metals into the trenches by various means. A conformal copper barrier, such as Ta or TaN is typically deposited over the entire surface by a PEVCD (plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition) process. Typically, a copper seed layer is deposited on top of this copper barrier layer. The recesses in the structure are then filled by a “bottom-up” non-conformal plating operation. Additional copper metal (an “overburden” of a thickness typically equal to slightly more than the thickness of the dielectric layer) is plated so that large, low aspect ratio features (those not filled by the non-conformal process) are filled with metal up to the plane of the dielectric. The overburden of the metal deposition may be removed by chemical mechanical polishing (CMP), and the individual lines and vias are thereby isolated. This is a general description of the so-called “damascene” process flow.
The space between adjacent lines is determined by various features including (1) patterning and etching of the trenches into which the metal is deposited, (2) the resulting etch profile, and (3) the depth to which the metals and dielectric are polished during CMP. Note that CMP depth affects lines spacing only if the features are not completely vertical. The typical sought-after result is to have all surface topography removed and a planar surface between the metal and dielectric surfaces.
Following this planarization process, a layer of silicon nitride is deposited to encapsulate the layers and serve as a barrier to metal (primarily copper) diffusion and an etch stop for subsequent layers. Because this layer has a relatively higher dielectric constant than the surrounding low-k dielectric layer, it can add significantly to the overall capacitance experienced by the lines and interconnects, thereby having a negative impact on performance. A more recent process, which selectively deposits a metallic “capping” layer, is superior because of a reduction in line resistance. It also limits the deleterious effects of device electromigration (EM), which results from defect sites at the metal/dielectric interface.
The conductive capping layer can be deposited on the metal lines prior to the encapsulating dielectric by a spatially selective method, such as electroless plating or selective CVD. These methods are typically isotropic in nature and result in lateral as well as vertical growth of the newly deposited film. Thus, the resulting conductive capping layer may laterally spread over the dielectric layer causing adjacent metal  lines to encroach one another. This gives rise to a deleterious effect on the leakage and breakdown voltage of the device.
A typical capping layer process includes the following process operations: dielectric deposition, etch to form trenches and vias, conductive barrier deposition, metal deposition, planarization, selective conductive cap deposition, dielectric barrier deposition (optional), and dielectric deposition.
The lateral growth of the capping layer reduces the effective space between the metal lines, reducing the extrinsic insulating property of the interspersed dielectric and resulting in an increase in the electric field between the metal lines. What is therefore needed is a capping method that solves the problems of low breakdown voltages and high line leakage typically encountered with conductive barrier capper layers.